Timothy Holdiness
News Editor
Over centuries, people have been fighting for equal rights across the United States and the rest of the world.
Inside North America, the main obstacle plaguing the black and brown population has been murderous police officers.
Within the last year, former Minnesota police officer Derrick Chauvin has been put in the hot seat and will live forever in infamy to some.
For others, it feels like a personal attack on their ideals and beliefs.
Chauvin kneeled on the neck of George Floyd for over nine minutes.
Chauvin’s knee remained on Floyd, even after he had gone silent and limp, urinated himself, and paramedics had arrived and finally checked his pulse.
Derrick Chauvin’s trial will long be written about in textbooks, as the murder of George Floyd will, unfortunately, be ingrained in the young minds of his children and those who witnessed it.
The murder was witnessed by a diverse group of people who happened to be walking by; within the nine minutes, Chauvin knelt on Floyd’s neck.
An off-duty firefighter who tried to intervene and give Floyd life-saving measures such as CPR was one of the witnesses, along with a nine-year-old who was walking with her cousin who was 17 years old.
The first obstacle, in this case, was making sure it was not overlooked; therefore, the former officer’s murder trial is publicly and fully broadcast live daily.
I felt an obligation to watch the trial and have found the video evidence is gut-wrenching and hard to watch.
From bystander footage, body camera footage, and surveillance camera footage, the jury has hundreds of pieces of evidence laid before them, along with countless testimonies from witnesses, experts, and even Chauvin’s bosses.
This trial is being decided by a jury, refereed by a judge, and fought by the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office and a defense attorney hired by the Minnesota Police Association.
The obstacle currently gripping the world is in the hands of a jury and could decide if we return to daily unrest or get to begin moving forward in the fight for changes in the norms killing black men, women, and children.
The freedom to believe what you please is one of the most crucial amendments to our constitution.
Having a university newspaper is amazingly the best place to use this freedom and right.
The evidence in the murder trial of Chauvin includes warnings for graphic content as it is being shown to the nation.
A statement should be placed with the first amendment that reads ‘Warning, use may have varying effects.’
While four police officers decided the fate of Floyd, the fate of Chauvin will be decided by 12 anonymous jurors; the fate of the USA is in the hands of the general public.
Peaceful protesting is not as easy when the thing being protested is what is supposed to protecting it.
This article is in response to Clayton Ashworth’s Overthinking Derek Chauvin, which was published Wednesday, April 15. To read the original opinion piece clcik here: https://currentsauce.com/2021/04/14/overthinking-derrick-chauvin/
If you would like to submit a rebuttal or opinion piece, email [email protected]
